Silver Springs through the years

Ginger Stanley is in the grip of the monster in "Creature from the Black Lagoon," filmed at Silver Springs around 1954-55.

Florida State Archives

Published: Saturday, September 28, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, September 27, 2013 at 7:26 p.m.

Here's a look back at the people, the boats, the Hollywood adventures, the animals and the history of Silver Springs.

- Compiled by Tom McNiff and Alan Youngblood

The early days

— Settlers versus Seminoles

The Seminole Indians made their home at the head of the Silver River when the first white settlers began to arrive in the early 1800s. The Seminoles frequently clashed with white renegades who snuck onto their land to steal horses. As tensions rose and violence escalated, the U.S. government decreed that all Seminoles should be relocated out west. Chief Osceola's Seminoles rebelled and launched a series of guerilla attacks that came to be known as the Second Seminole War. Eventually, both sides wearied of the conflict and most of the Seminoles moved south into the Everglades.

— A port of commerce

In the mid-1800s, forests up and down the East Coast became crowded with laborers — many of them slaves and prisoners — who hacked away at thousands of acres of pine trees for their sap, which they distilled into turpentine for the growing shipping industry. Silver Springs became an important inland port to get the turpentine and other raw materials out to the coast, and to ferry citrus and other staples back and forth to stores and consumers in Florida.

— Early owner

Samuel O. Howse purchased the land surrounding the headwaters of the Silver River in the 1860s

— Tourism is born

Turpentine and oranges weren't the only freight wending their way along the Ocklawaha River to Silver Springs. In what were the first efforts to market Silver Springs and the surrounding area as a tourist destination, businessman Hubbard Hart's steamboat line on the Ocklawaha and Silver rivers ferried visitors from all over the nation on torch-lit excursions that were billed as exotic adventures through untamed jungle. Some of the men even shot alligators and other wildlife from the decks of the steamboats.

The cast of characters

— T. Brigham Bishop

Several hotels have stood sentinel over the springs. The first was built by a New York composer and businessman with a questionable reputation. T. Brigham Bishop ran shady betting parlors in the Big Apple and made debatable claims about composing some of the era's most famous songs, including "John Brown's Body," the melody of which was used for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." After opening a bank in nearby Palatka, In 1881, Bishop built a 200-room hotel at Silver Springs to capitalize on the brisk tourism trade that the springs and steamboats were doing. The bank failed within a few years and the hotel mysteriously burned down 13 years after it opened. Back in New York in 1891, Bishop was arrested for swindling a woman and he fled the state. After his arrest, the New York Times wrote a withering piece describing him as a con man and a "general crook."

— Ross Allen, the "Snake Man"

In the 1930s, noted herpetologist Ross Allen began importing reptiles and other wild animals from South and Central America for his Ross Allen Reptile Institute at Silver Springs. Part scientist, part showman and all outdoorsman, Allen ran a wildlife research center at Silver Springs for many years but spent much of his time traipsing through the woods around Silver Springs catching alligators and snakes and trying to foster a love of nature and wildlife in area youth through a variety of programs.

— Newt Perry. the "Human Fish"

Silver Springs was known as much for what occurred under water as what occurred around its banks, and much of that success owes to Newt Perry, a world-class swimmer and diver who helped filmmakers, documentarians bring the springs to the big and small screens. He was the barrel-chested stunt double for Johnny Weissmuller in the Tarzan movies in the 1930s, but he also was the behind-the-scenes brains who helped dozens of television producers film their shows and commercials successfully and safely in the chilly waters of the springs

— W.C. Ray and Shorty Davidson

Nobody did more to put Ocala on the national and international maps than W.C. Ray and W.M. (Shorty) Davidson, who leased Silver Springs Attraction from Ed Carmichael in 1924 and through shrewd, imaginative promotion turned it into Florida's top tourist attraction, almost 50 years before Disney.

The boats

— Steamboats

The earliest boats cruising the Ocklawaha and Silver rivers downstream of the springs were crude steamboats with paddle wheels recessed at the rear. They were tall and svelte, perfect for navigating the narrow, winding rivers.

— A pane in the bottom

As a boy, Phillip Morell watched older boys press small pieces of glass against the surface of Silver Springs to create aquatic windows. Years later, he took the idea a step further, cutting a hole in the bottom of his row boat and caulking in place a large pane of glass. The first glass bottom boat was born, although rival Hullam Jones beat him to the patent office and went down in history as the inventor. The bow of Jones's first boat was carved out of a cypress log and the rest was built with cypress planks. It measured more than three feet wide and was 20 feet long. Both men charged modest fees for rides on their unusual crafts.

— All grown up

The modern glass-bottom boats were developed in the 1890s to ferry loads of visitors on tours of the springs. The boats converted to electric motors in the 1930s

The Big Screen

The crystal-clear springs provided an ideal set for film producers who wanted to do underwater shots, and the tropical vegetation surrounding the springs resembled the African jungle enough for the producers of the Tarzan movies.

1932: Tarzan The Ape-Man, with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan

1934: Tarzan and His Mate

1936: Tarzan Escapes

1939: Tarzan Finds A Son

1941: Tarzan's Secret Treasure

1942: Tarzan's New York Adventure

1946: The Yearling, starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman

1951: Barefoot Mailman

1951: Distant Drums, starring Gary Cooper

1953: Javiro, starring Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl

1954: Creature From The Black Lagoon

1955: Jupiter's Darling, starring Esther Williams and Howard Keel

1955: Underwater, with Jane Russell and Richard Egan

1955: Rebel Without A Cause, starring James Dean and Natalie Wood

1955: Revenge Of The Creature

1959: Don't Give Up The Ship, with Jerry Lewis

1965: Thunderball, with Sean Connery

1966: Blindfold, with Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale

1979: Moonraker, Roger Moore

1983: Cross Creek, with Mary Steenburgen and Rip Torn

1983: Smokey & The Bandit "3", with Jackie Gleason

1983: Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery

1985: Legend, Tom Cruise

2005: Hoot, Jimmy Buffet

The Small Screen

Silver Springs served as the location for dozens of television shows, documentaries and commercials over the years. Among them:

1951-59: You Asked For It, with Art Baker

1958-61: Sea Hunt, Lloyd Bridges

1950s: The Arlene Francis Show

1960s: The Jack Paar Show

1960s: Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Marlin Perkins

1960s: I Spy, Bill Cosby

1999: "Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin

2001: Wrigley's Chewing Gum TV commercial

2005: Coca-Cola Commercial

The Critters

— Monkey business

In 1938, Hollywood was planning to film another Tarzan movie at Silver Springs and Colonel Tooey, a concessionaire who operated the Jungle Cruise boat ride, had an idea. He bought some rhesus monkeys from a wildlife distributor and plopped them on an island in the Silver River ... and watched them promptly swim away. They flourished, and today, troops of wild monkeys roam the banks of the rivers and inhabit the forests many miles from the springs.

— Creepy crawlers

Where there's water in Florida, there are alligators, and Silver Springs has plenty of both. Beginning with Ross Allen and until recently, the park kept an array of gators and snakes on display for the enjoyment of visitors.

— Predators and pets

The various entertainment companies that owned and operated Silver Springs from the 1960s on brought in a petting zoo, a bear exhibit and of course the giraffes, a fan favorite.

The Music

When Twin Oaks Mansion debuted at the park in the 1990s, it opened up Silver Springs to a whole new audience -- music lovers. This outdoor concert venue became an overnight sensation, drawing thousands of patrons every weekend to see some of the music industry's most iconic figures, many of them in the twilights of their careers. Here are some of them:

Mel Tillis

Pat Boone

Chuck Berry

Charlie Daniels

Glen Campbell

Wayne Newton

Clint Black

The Water Park

On April 28, 1978, Wild Waters opened adjacent to Silver Springs. The park expanded several times over the years until it featured an array of flumes, a kiddie park and, of course, the popular wave pool.

<p>Here's a look back at the people, the boats, the Hollywood adventures, the animals and the history of Silver Springs.</p><p><i>- Compiled by Tom McNiff and Alan Youngblood</i></p><p><b>The early days</b></p><p>— Settlers versus Seminoles</p><p>The Seminole Indians made their home at the head of the Silver River when the first white settlers began to arrive in the early 1800s. The Seminoles frequently clashed with white renegades who snuck onto their land to steal horses. As tensions rose and violence escalated, the U.S. government decreed that all Seminoles should be relocated out west. Chief Osceola's Seminoles rebelled and launched a series of guerilla attacks that came to be known as the Second Seminole War. Eventually, both sides wearied of the conflict and most of the Seminoles moved south into the Everglades.</p><p>— A port of commerce</p><p>In the mid-1800s, forests up and down the East Coast became crowded with laborers — many of them slaves and prisoners — who hacked away at thousands of acres of pine trees for their sap, which they distilled into turpentine for the growing shipping industry. Silver Springs became an important inland port to get the turpentine and other raw materials out to the coast, and to ferry citrus and other staples back and forth to stores and consumers in Florida.</p><p>— Early owner</p><p>Samuel O. Howse purchased the land surrounding the headwaters of the Silver River in the 1860s</p><p>— Tourism is born</p><p>Turpentine and oranges weren't the only freight wending their way along the Ocklawaha River to Silver Springs. In what were the first efforts to market Silver Springs and the surrounding area as a tourist destination, businessman Hubbard Hart's steamboat line on the Ocklawaha and Silver rivers ferried visitors from all over the nation on torch-lit excursions that were billed as exotic adventures through untamed jungle. Some of the men even shot alligators and other wildlife from the decks of the steamboats. </p><p><b>The cast of characters</b></p><p>— T. Brigham Bishop</p><p>Several hotels have stood sentinel over the springs. The first was built by a New York composer and businessman with a questionable reputation. T. Brigham Bishop ran shady betting parlors in the Big Apple and made debatable claims about composing some of the era's most famous songs, including "John Brown's Body," the melody of which was used for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." After opening a bank in nearby Palatka, In 1881, Bishop built a 200-room hotel at Silver Springs to capitalize on the brisk tourism trade that the springs and steamboats were doing. The bank failed within a few years and the hotel mysteriously burned down 13 years after it opened. Back in New York in 1891, Bishop was arrested for swindling a woman and he fled the state. After his arrest, the New York Times wrote a withering piece describing him as a con man and a "general crook."</p><p>— Ross Allen, the "Snake Man"</p><p>In the 1930s, noted herpetologist Ross Allen began importing reptiles and other wild animals from South and Central America for his Ross Allen Reptile Institute at Silver Springs. Part scientist, part showman and all outdoorsman, Allen ran a wildlife research center at Silver Springs for many years but spent much of his time traipsing through the woods around Silver Springs catching alligators and snakes and trying to foster a love of nature and wildlife in area youth through a variety of programs.</p><p>— Newt Perry. the "Human Fish"</p><p>Silver Springs was known as much for what occurred under water as what occurred around its banks, and much of that success owes to Newt Perry, a world-class swimmer and diver who helped filmmakers, documentarians bring the springs to the big and small screens. He was the barrel-chested stunt double for Johnny Weissmuller in the Tarzan movies in the 1930s, but he also was the behind-the-scenes brains who helped dozens of television producers film their shows and commercials successfully and safely in the chilly waters of the springs</p><p>— W.C. Ray and Shorty Davidson</p><p>Nobody did more to put Ocala on the national and international maps than W.C. Ray and W.M. (Shorty) Davidson, who leased Silver Springs Attraction from Ed Carmichael in 1924 and through shrewd, imaginative promotion turned it into Florida's top tourist attraction, almost 50 years before Disney. </p><p><b>The boats</b></p><p>— Steamboats</p><p>The earliest boats cruising the Ocklawaha and Silver rivers downstream of the springs were crude steamboats with paddle wheels recessed at the rear. They were tall and svelte, perfect for navigating the narrow, winding rivers. </p><p>— A pane in the bottom</p><p>As a boy, Phillip Morell watched older boys press small pieces of glass against the surface of Silver Springs to create aquatic windows. Years later, he took the idea a step further, cutting a hole in the bottom of his row boat and caulking in place a large pane of glass. The first glass bottom boat was born, although rival Hullam Jones beat him to the patent office and went down in history as the inventor. The bow of Jones's first boat was carved out of a cypress log and the rest was built with cypress planks. It measured more than three feet wide and was 20 feet long. Both men charged modest fees for rides on their unusual crafts. </p><p>— All grown up</p><p>The modern glass-bottom boats were developed in the 1890s to ferry loads of visitors on tours of the springs. The boats converted to electric motors in the 1930s</p><p><b>The Big Screen</b></p><p>The crystal-clear springs provided an ideal set for film producers who wanted to do underwater shots, and the tropical vegetation surrounding the springs resembled the African jungle enough for the producers of the Tarzan movies. </p><p>1916: The Seven Swans, starring Richard Barthelmess and Marguerite Clark</p><p>1932: Tarzan The Ape-Man, with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan</p><p>1934: Tarzan and His Mate</p><p>1936: Tarzan Escapes</p><p>1939: Tarzan Finds A Son</p><p>1941: Tarzan's Secret Treasure</p><p>1942: Tarzan's New York Adventure</p><p>1946: The Yearling, starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman</p><p>1951: Barefoot Mailman</p><p>1951: Distant Drums, starring Gary Cooper</p><p>1953: Javiro, starring Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl</p><p>1954: Creature From The Black Lagoon</p><p>1955: Jupiter's Darling, starring Esther Williams and Howard Keel</p><p>1955: Underwater, with Jane Russell and Richard Egan</p><p>1955: Rebel Without A Cause, starring James Dean and Natalie Wood</p><p>1955: Revenge Of The Creature</p><p>1959: Don't Give Up The Ship, with Jerry Lewis</p><p>1965: Thunderball, with Sean Connery</p><p>1966: Blindfold, with Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale</p><p>1979: Moonraker, Roger Moore</p><p>1983: Cross Creek, with Mary Steenburgen and Rip Torn</p><p>1983: Smokey & The Bandit "3", with Jackie Gleason</p><p>1983: Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery</p><p>1985: Legend, Tom Cruise</p><p>2005: Hoot, Jimmy Buffet</p><p><b>The Small Screen</b></p><p>Silver Springs served as the location for dozens of television shows, documentaries and commercials over the years. Among them:</p><p>1951-59: You Asked For It, with Art Baker</p><p>1958-61: Sea Hunt, Lloyd Bridges</p><p>1950s: The Arlene Francis Show</p><p>1960s: The Jack Paar Show</p><p>1960s: Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Marlin Perkins</p><p>1960s: I Spy, Bill Cosby</p><p>1999: "Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin</p><p>2001: Wrigley's Chewing Gum TV commercial</p><p>2005: Coca-Cola Commercial</p><p><b>The Critters</b></p><p>— Monkey business</p><p>In 1938, Hollywood was planning to film another Tarzan movie at Silver Springs and Colonel Tooey, a concessionaire who operated the Jungle Cruise boat ride, had an idea. He bought some rhesus monkeys from a wildlife distributor and plopped them on an island in the Silver River ... and watched them promptly swim away. They flourished, and today, troops of wild monkeys roam the banks of the rivers and inhabit the forests many miles from the springs.</p><p>— Creepy crawlers</p><p>Where there's water in Florida, there are alligators, and Silver Springs has plenty of both. Beginning with Ross Allen and until recently, the park kept an array of gators and snakes on display for the enjoyment of visitors.</p><p>— Predators and pets</p><p>The various entertainment companies that owned and operated Silver Springs from the 1960s on brought in a petting zoo, a bear exhibit and of course the giraffes, a fan favorite. </p><p><b>The Music</b></p><p>When Twin Oaks Mansion debuted at the park in the 1990s, it opened up Silver Springs to a whole new audience -- music lovers. This outdoor concert venue became an overnight sensation, drawing thousands of patrons every weekend to see some of the music industry's most iconic figures, many of them in the twilights of their careers. Here are some of them:</p><p>Mel Tillis</p><p>Pat Boone</p><p>Chuck Berry</p><p>Charlie Daniels</p><p>Glen Campbell</p><p>Wayne Newton</p><p>Clint Black</p><p><b>The Water Park</b></p><p>On April 28, 1978, Wild Waters opened adjacent to Silver Springs. The park expanded several times over the years until it featured an array of flumes, a kiddie park and, of course, the popular wave pool.</p>